Proposed revision to application procedures for consent to use radiation within the UK
19/11/2021
On 7 October 2021, a meeting took place to discuss the current work being carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to revise the application procedures and associated costs for the granting of consent to use radiation (generators and radioactive isotopes/sources) within the UK. This meeting, attended by Patrick Boulton and Alan Parsons of BINDT, was the first of three meetings, with two further meetings scheduled to take place later in October and November 2021. Patrick Boulton, Technical and Certification Engineer at BINDT, reports…The project lead Richard Broughton from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) opened the meeting, indicating that it was the HSE’s intention to have revised application procedures in place for the granting of consent in approximately 12 months’ time, after recommendations made to the UK government by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
James Taylor, from the HSE, then provided the meeting with a progress update on the new approach to consent authorisation.
It was stressed that none of the progress that had been made was definite, but that it was looking increasingly likely that senior management approval within the HSE would sanction the proposed changes in line with IAEA findings.
A number of issues from within the IAEA report were discussed at the meeting, starting with a requirement that the HSE will look to request that a safety assessment be submitted to them by the applicant ahead of a visit being made to the applicant’s premises prior to consent being granted.
Significantly, the IAEA does not fully agree with the current approach adopted by the HSE.
The HSE is strongly considering the production of a national register of radiation sources, generators and radioactive materials. Various issues were discussed concerning national safety and security with regards to having such a record, with staff currently working at the HSE being consulted regarding these matters, and it was stated that an update will be provided in due course.
It was also apparent that the HSE’s current IT infrastructure will require significant investment and improvement to meet the demands of the proposed consent authorisation process and that work on a revised online portal will start within the next few weeks to meet the revised requirement, again after the necessary approvals have been sanctioned by senior management at the HSE.
The HSE is looking to implement revised procedures by October 2022 in order to satisfy the IAEA’s expectations.
The following appropriate points were noted, which were documented from the meeting discussion:
- It will be the HSE/the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) that will ultimately grant permission/consent for a radiation practice to take place.
- Safety assessments will be submitted to the HSE using online templates or a Word document (yet to be decided) and, where the documented submission is acceptable, a visit to the applicant’s premises will be made. Where the online application and physical visit are satisfactory, consent for the practice will be granted.
- The HSE indicated that all organisations that currently hold consent to use radiation will be required to reapply using the revised procedures; full costs will be incurred. However, it is expected that this backlog of work will not be cleared for a period of five years. It is expected that the HSE will approach approximately 20% of those organisations that currently hold consent each year until the backlog is cleared. This will be in addition to new aspirant organisations that also wish to gain consent.
- Where an organisation’s application fails in its submission to the HSE, it will then be required to resubmit another application. When the submitted initial application/safety assessment has been accepted by the HSE, this will then be passed over to radiation specialists for review and a site visit.
- Where applications for consent are considered insufficient, they will be rejected by the HSE and the applicant will need to reapply.
- No indication was given as to the period for which consent would last. The HSE will explore and report back.
- The HSE will require documented procedures to be supplied by the applicant showing compliance with the requirements of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR 2017) and the approved code of practice.
- Consent for the transport of high-activity sources to sites may be provided by both the HSE and the ONR working in partnership.
- For those NDT organisations using HAS or generators at a site or in a laboratory, it is expected that only one consent will be required.
- The approximate cost of gaining consent will be in the range of £2000 to £5000 per organisation.
- The process of applying for and achieving consent where no issues occur is likely to be completed within three months. Organisations will not be authorised to use radiation until consent has been granted. It was suggested that this may have implications within the medical sector.
- It was confirmed that existing current consent will remain valid until such time as existing consent has been re-reviewed by the HSE for the revised process. However, it was made abundantly clear that at some future point in time the HSE will contact organisations to supply a safety assessment. This will be a structured approach developed to clear the backlog fairly, although what is deemed as fair has yet to be decided.
- For those organisations that have multiple sites where radiation is in use, then the HSE indicated that a percentage of premises will be physically inspected; which sites are inspected will be at the discretion of the HSE. It was suggested that 28 days’ notice will be provided prior to a physical visit being made.
- With regard to the register of radiation sources, it was indicated that additional work and consideration was required and that, with regard to national security, additional measures and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will require significant thought. Initial discussions are taking place with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the ONR on what equipment is held and what ranges they operate in.
- In order to facilitate the gathering of information regarding applications for consent and for the registration of radiation sources, the HSE is developing a new digital platform, which is hoped will be an integrated system with the capability to talk to other government departments.
- With regard to the proposed content of the revised safety assessment, which will form one part of any new consent application, full details of what will be included within an application have yet to be finalised.
Kyran Donald, HSE Economist, then led a further discussion on the economics of the revised approach. The following points were noted:
- The HSE has a statutory duty to take account of the costs to business.
- The HSE is trying to gauge what the associated costs to business may be in terms of an organisation having to make an application for consent. As an example, the HSE wishes to understand how much it will cost for an organisation to produce the initial safety assessment; it was stated that this would be dependent upon organisational size and the radiation practices involved.
- The HSE intends to send a questionnaire out to the working group members for consideration as to what costs may be incurred across the relevant sectors: medical, NDT, nuclear, etc.
- The following question was asked: The HSE has indicated that the direct consent application cost to business will be between £2000 and £5000. Is the HSE proposing or considering that the cost to the HSE will be revenue neutral or revenue generating and will consent costs be administered on some kind of a sliding scale, dependent upon the size of the organisation applying for consent? The reply was that there will be a sliding scale, approximately £167 per hour of billable HSE time; therefore, costs will be dependent upon the amount of time spent with the organisation. Typically, it was not envisaged that this would exceed one day.
- It was confirmed that a period of testing time will be utilised prior to release and implementation of the revised application system, but that the new system will move into active development shortly.
